BAD DREAM, bill denbrough

ix. WE'RE ALL AFRAID OF SOMETHING

The group sat at the Derry fair talking about the clown they've been seeing. Ben, Mike, Stan, and Beverly all sat on the bench while Bill, Sabrina, Richie and Eddie sat on their bikes across from them.

"Okay, so, let me get this straight. It comes out from wherever to eat kids for, like, a year? And then what?
It just goes into hibernation?" Eddie was thinking this through deeply along with everyone else, but honestly, they had no clue.

"Maybe it's like... What do you call it? Cicadas. You know, the bugs that come out once every 17 years." Stanley chimed in. "Yeah, I mean, you never realize something is gone, you only realize when it's there. Like cicadas for example, nobody realizes when they're gone, they only realize when they're there because they're super annoying." Sabrina pointed out.

"My grandfather thinks this town is cursed. He says that all the bad things that happen in this town are because of one thing. An evil thing that feeds off the people of Derry." Mike told the group, but Stanley denied that, "But it can't be one thing.We all saw something different."

"Well, it could be like a shapeshifter." Sabrina looked up at Stan, squinting because of the sun. "Yeah, maybe It knows what scares us most and that's what we see." Mike agreed with Sabrina.

"I saw a leper. He was like a walking infection." Eddie told them and Sabrina nodded, "That verifies Mike's theory then, I mean you saw your biggest fear."

"But he didn't. Because it isn't real. None of this is.
Not Eddie's leper or Bill seeing Georgie or the woman I keep seeing." Stanley looked down.

"She hot?" Richie asked, Sabrina turned to him and scoffed, leaning down from her bike and picking up a rock to throw at him.

"No, Richie! She's not hot! Her face is all messed up.
None of this makes any sense. They're all like bad dreams." Stanley ranted as Richie winced from the rock that was chucked at him.

"Worse than a nightmare- they're real or at least they feel real." Sabrina looked down. "I know the difference between a bad dream and real life, okay?" Mike disagreed with Stanley who thought everything was 100% fake.

"What'd you see? You saw something, too?" Eddie asked Mike, who responded with a "Yes."

"Do you guys know that burned-down house
on Harris Avenue? I was inside when it burned down. Before I was rescued, my mom and dad were
trapped in the next room over from me.They were pushing and pounding on the door,trying to get to me.But it was too hot.When the firemen finally found them, the skin on their hands had melted down to the bone." Mike told his story and Sabrina gave him a look of sympathy. "I'm so sorry that happened to you." She whispered.

"Point is, we're all afraid of something." He finished.
"Yeah." Sabrina whispered, "He's right. There's not one person in the world that's completely fearless."

"What are you afraid of Sabrina?" Ben looked at her.

"Being killed by the ones I love most." Her eyes flickered up as she looked at the group. "What happened with you and the clown. Ya know, when you saw him?" Mike asked her and Sabrina immediately looked towards the ground, her eyes beginning to fill with water.

"You don't have to t-tell them, Sab." Bill whispered to her as he gripped her hand, but she shook her head, "No, it's okay. I'll tell you guys."

"It happened when I left Ben's house. I heard someone following me and I stopped and it was Eddie." She looked over to her brother, "But it wasn't me? I didn't leave Ben's house until awhile later." Eddie furrowed his eyebrows.

"I'm getting there." She responded, "He smiled. It was the scariest smile I had ever seen and then-" The girl paused to take a breath, "Then his body just began expanding. It was disgusting. His skin stretching and ripping and I don't know how, but soon his body expanded into every one of you." Her eyes searched around the group.

"After all of you were there, you began crying blood, screaming at me and telling me not to be scared and Richie-" The girl let out a weak cry. Bill slipped his hand into hers and gave her an encouraging squeeze and Sabrina continued, "Richie began choking me....I soon got him off of me, but then Ben grabbed my ankle and his skin just began rotting. All the flesh peeling off, red and purple, it was disgusting."

"I began screaming. I didn't know what else to do- and that's when Bill came up to me." Sabrina eyes fluttered shut as she relived the moment. "He put his hand on my cheek and told me not to be sad." She looked over to Bill with a sad smile, "It was like it was the real Bill. Like he was really there. But I knew I was wrong when this gross laugh escaped his mouth and he slapped me."

"That's when I began leaving. I grabbed my bike and peddled as fast as I could, but it was faster. Bill was the first one to catch me, tackling me to the ground. I remember these razor sharp teeth growing out of his head and him digging his nails into my cheek." Sabrina talked about her cheek that was now scabbed, "Then he disappeared from my sight. He was gone in a flash. I thought my biggest fear was being killed by my loved ones, but after that- it might be losing them." She finished her story with a small tear rolling down her cheek.

"Was that the same day I saw the clown? When I came into your room and you didn't believe I was me?" Eddie looked at his sister. The girl nodded her head with a sniffle.

"I didn't know what to do that night. I had never seen you cry that much." Eddie whispered, but everyone heard him. "It's hard seeing your worst fear come to life, especially when it's my favorite people trying to murder me." Sabrina whispered.

"Wait. Can we back peddle for a minute?" Everyone drew their attention to Richie as he began speaking, "I choked you?" Richie looked at her and she nodded, "Was it like...a cool way? Or a bad way?" Richie asked and Sabrina rolled her eyes.

"Are you fucking serious, Rich? Oh no, it was really cool, you were trying to murder me!" Sabrina yelled in sarcasm, annoyed at the dumb question.

Her fury came to a calm state when she felt Bill squeeze her hand.

"How about you, Rich? What are you afraid of?" Sabrina looked at the boy. "Clowns."

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The group all hopped on their bikes and rode to Billy's house. Sabrina had been seemingly quiet since she came clean about her fear, she was embarrassed. They probably thought that her fear was dumb because it would never happen, but that's the thing about fears. You're scared of the thing that's most likely never gonna happen because if it did happen- you'd be broken.

They finally arrived to his house and put their bikes down in the driveway. Everyone entered the garage, except Bill, who was walking up to Sabrina. "Y-you okay? You haven't t-talked much." He asked her, in which the girl shrugged. "I don't know, I just don't want you guys to think I'm dumb and weak, I guess."

"No one thinks that S-Sab." He told her, "We all know you're st-strong and b-brave." He smiled lightly. "Thanks Billy." She whispered, wrapping her arms around his torso. She heard Bill let out a small laugh and she cocked a brow, pulling back from the hug.

"What's funny, Denbrough?" She smirked. "Y-you've been hugging me a lot." He scratched the back of his neck as a light blush coated his cheeks.

"Oh- do you uh- do you not want me too? Cause I'll stop if you want me to stop-" Her ranting got cut off by Bill, "I didn't mean it like t-that, I was just s-s-saying."

"Oh, okay." She smiled, laughing a little. "When you guys are done flirting, we'd like some help!" Richie shouted out from the garage and Sabrina groaned, "Coming, doofus!"

She began walking to the garage, but quickly turned to face Billy again, "And what can I say, Denbrough? You give good hugs."

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CHAPTER NINE - WE'RE ALL AFRAID OF SOMETHING